


midnight oil

by CadetDru



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Bad Communication, Burnplay, Burns, Canon Asexual Character, Consensual But Not Safe Or Sane, F/M, Kink Exploration, Lovers to Friends, No Aftercare, Nostalgia, Post-Break Up, Pre-Canon, Wax Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:41:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29095959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CadetDru/pseuds/CadetDru
Summary: They had briefly discussed boundaries, but not any specific triggers.  Jon was smoking like a chimney as they talked: he'd convinced Georgie to put his cigarette out on his hand, just below his thumb. He nearly screamed, but he said he was happy. That was that.- - - - - -“How did you burn your hand this badly?” she said quietly. Her voice was enough to break the silence, but not pop the bubble around them.  It was safe, just the two of them in her bathroom with the first aid kit.“How does anyone ever get burned?” Jon said.  He laid his unburnt hand over his heart, over the jagged scar of a Valentine heart that they both knew was there.- - - - - -
Relationships: Georgie Barker & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Georgie Barker/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. wax heart

Before Jon ever joined the Magnus Institute, he was at university making poor choices.

It was Valentine's Day. Georgie and Jon were young and assumed they were in love. Jon wanted to push himself past all of his fear. Georgie thought she was a safe person for Jon to do that with. They made almost every mistake imaginable. She had an idea, poorly thought out and only vaguely planned. She'd never tried anything like it before, and she wasn't worried about any of it.

They had briefly discussed boundaries, but not any specific triggers. Jon was smoking like a chimney as they talked: he'd convinced Georgie to put his cigarette out on his hand, just below his thumb. He nearly screamed, but he said he was happy. That was that.

Her flatmates were being held at bay by the music she'd turned up too loud. There were candles set on whatever non-flammable spot was available to set the mood. She wasn't sure if they were the right kind of candles, but she wanted to try.

He was still mostly clothed: pants staying on, shirt off. She didn't know how to tie the best knots. She had him clench his fists while she tied the scarves around him and to the headboard. The tie overlapped with the bandage from the cigarette burn.

They didn't have a safe word because it didn't seem necessary. Neither of them planned on doing anything that the other wouldn't like. She knelt over him, holding the candle, and tried to watch his face to see how he was reacting. They hadn't developed the right kind of terminology to check in with each other. 

The energy quietly fizzled away. She'd dripped the wax onto his chest and he'd wriggled and writhed. She hadn't figured out what to do next. She untied him and tried to help check his wrists. He shrugged her off.

She went to quietly take a shower while he peeled the wax off. He'd never seemed hotter than when he was writhing on her bed, but she still didn't know how he'd actually felt. She got out of the shower, determined to tell him that they needed to talk. 

"I think we should break up," he said when she came out.

"What?" 

His fingers twitched towards the burn she'd left. "Your heart wasn't in it…"

"Jon," she started. "Here, let's… I have a first aid kit. Let's get you all set and get some sleep and…" She trailed off, not sure who she was in this. She didn't want to be the bad guy.

He stayed the night. They slept in the bed together but didn't touch. In the morning, they didn't talk about what had happened, including about Jon wanting to break up.


	2. matchstick

Jon was staying with Georgie because she was the only one he could trust. That wasn't a good sign. Jon had managed to go out and get his hand horrifically burned, to the point where he should have gone to the hospital to have it properly looked at. He didn't do that.

Georgie helped Jon clean his burned hand. They weren't talking about it, they weren't talking about a lot of things. “How did you burn your hand this badly?” she said quietly. Her voice was enough to break the silence, but not pop the bubble around them. It was safe, just the two of them in her bathroom with the first aid kit.

“How does anyone ever get burned?” Jon said. He laid his unburnt hand over his heart, over the jagged scar of a Valentine heart that they both knew was there.

Her soothing hand stilled as it shook. "We didn't… neither of us knew that you'd be hurt so badly. I didn't know not to use regular candles…"

“I’m sorry," Jon said quickly. "That was a joke. You were so fearless. I loved that in you. I was so scared of everything, but with you I felt like I could try anything, be anyone. Since then… I know better now. It wasn’t like that-- I promised you that I wouldn’t do that again, and I haven’t.”

“You broke up with me over it,” Georgie said, resuming her single-minded task: fix Jon's hand. She met his eyes. "I hurt you. Because I wanted to, and because you wanted me to."

“Emotionally or…” Jon prompted. 

“You literally got burned," Georgie said, voice breaking.

“I’m still not good at avoiding that, obviously," Jon said. “This wasn't about connection this time. The person who burned me is… someone vaguely in my sphere. It wasn’t a personal thing at all. No intimacy. Just a handshake to her.”

“So her hand was made of burning wax?”

“You’ve met Jude, then?” Jon said with his bark of a laugh. 

“Your jokes haven’t gotten any better," Georgie grumbled. 

"They're not jokes any more," Jon said. He laid his good hand on her wrist. "Can we try it again?"

"Try dating again?" Georgie said. She wasn't doing anything to his hand any more.

"No, just… do you have any rope?" Jon said. 

"You want me to tie you up," Georgie said flatly.

"It might help me relax," Jon said. 

"We shouldn't not yet." Georgie took a shaky breath. "I'm not good with you. For you. I don't know how to read you the way that I need to. You and I don't communicate enough. I can't…"

"Fair enough," Jon said. 

Georgie helped Jon take off his shirt, under the excuse of his hand not being of any use in that moment. His arms, chest, and stomach were marked. "What are these scars?" she said, running her fingertips up his arm and across his chest.

"The scar under my ribs is Michael. The circles on my arms and neck are Jane. And the heart is still Georgie." Jon said. He waved his burnt hand. "I've been adding to my collection." 

"Fallen in love with someone else?"

"Well… there was someone. He didn't cause any of these scars. He's the one who took me to get stitches."

"He sounds nice," Georgie said.

"He is nice. That's why I can't involve him in any of this."

"You can be persuasive when you want to be," Georgie said.

"He saw the heart. I think he would have said something if he was...interested in this sort of thing."

"When you're in a better place for it, you say, 'Martin, as you can tell, I am incredibly masochistic at times. What do you want to do about it?'"

"I didn't say his name," Jon said.

Georgie met Jon's eye. She lightly kissed his forehead, the frown smoothing away under her touch. "You've said it before," she said, lips still brushing against him. She pulled away. "Let's have something to eat, shall we?"

"I'm not--"

"Something to eat and we can talk about ways for you to channel your masochistic impulses while you're under my roof." She tapped the heart she'd burned into him. "Let me get you a clean shirt."

Jon simply nodded.


End file.
